Peace Monuments in Italy, Greece & the Vatican City

Right click image to enlarge.

January 30, 9 BC - Ara Pacis Augustae / Altar of Augustan Peace, Rome (Italy). Built by Roman emperor Augustus Caesar [63 BC - 14 AD]. Enclosed in 2006 by new building designed by American architect Richard Meier.

About 20 BC - Augusto di Prima Porta / Augustus of Prima Porta, Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican Museums (Vatican City). A 2.04m high marble statue of Augustus Caesar [63 BC - 14 AD] which was discovered on April 20, 1863, in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta, near Rome (Italy). (Augustus Caesar's wife, Livia Drusilla [58 BC-AD 29], retired to the villa after his death.) "The statue's iconography is frequently compared to that of the carmen saeculare by Horace, and commemorates Augustus's establishment of the Pax Romana. The breastplate is carved in relief with numerous small figures depicting the return of the Roman legionary standards or vexillae lost to Parthia by Mark Anthony in the 40's BC and by Crassus in 53 BC, thanks to the diplomacy of Augustus."

75 AD - Templum Pacis / Temple of Peace, Forum of Vespasian, Rome (Italy). Built by Vespasian [9-79 AD]. "He also adorned it with paintings and statues by the greatest of the old masters. In fact, in that temple were collected and deposited all those works that men had hitherto travelled over the whole world to see, longing to set eyes on them even when scattered in different lands... Considered by Pliny to be one of the three most beautiful buildings in Rome. For Herodian, writing more than a century and a half later, the Temple of Peace was 'the largest and most beautiful of all the buildings in the city.'"

About 500 AD - BINCENTIA IN PACE, San Sebastiano Catacomb, Rome (Italy). Inscription (not shown in image) flanked by the Chi-Rho symbol, basket (indicating good works), and dove with olive branch (from Genesis 8:11).

About 500 AD - Grabplatte der Irene mit der Taube, San Callisto Catacomb, Rome (Italy). Depicts dove of peace bringing an olive branch to a child.

13th Century - Churches, Atri, Abruzzo (Italy). "Atri's 13th-century cathedral gave us our first look at the lion-and-lamb theme common to many Abruzzo church facades. At another doorway of the same church, the lions were poised to tuck into a tasty feast of small prey. At another Atri church, the lions were dwarfed by a lamb that looked like a character from Shrek."

1338-39 - Pax, Sala della Pace / Peace Hall, Palazzo Pubblico (town hall), Siena, Tuscany (Italy). Part of the fresco entitled "Effects of Good Government in the City & Countryside" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti [c1290-1348].

1440-1445 - The Battle of San Romano, A set of three paintings by the Florentine painter Paolo Uccello [1397-1475] depicting events that took place at the Battle of San Romano in 1432. Much admired in the 15th century. They are now divided between three collections, the National Gallery, London (England), the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (Italy), and the Musée du Louvre, Paris (France).

Circa 1660 - "Dove of the Holy Spirit" by Gianlorenzo Bernini [1598-1680], Throne of St. Peter, Basilica of St. Peter (Vatican City).

Date? - La Giustizia e la pace si baciano / Justice & Peace Shall Kiss, Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Palazzo Tosio, Brescia (Italy). Depicts a biblical scene, referring to King James, Psalm 85: "Kindness and truth will meet, justice and truth shall kiss." What date, and who is the artist?

1896 - Panathinaiko / Olympic Stadium, Athens (Greece). Site of a stadium since 566 BCE, excavated in 1870, and rebuilt for the Summer games of 1896. Site of the archery competition in 2004.

Date? - Monument to Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Giardini pubblici di Porta Venezia, Milan (Italy). Ernesto Teodoro Moneta [1833-1918] was an Italian journalist. He and Louis Renault [1843-1918] received the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1907. Monument by Tullio Brianzi was removed during the Fascist period and put back in 1945.

1924 - "Maria Dolens" / "Grieving Virgin Mary", Miravalle Hill, Rovereto, Trento (Italy). Largest bell outside Russia and East Asia, and the largest sounding bell in the world. Built under the inspiration of a local priest from bronze obtained by fusing cannons used by all the armies which fought in World War I. The International University of Peoples’ Institutions for Peace (IUPIP) was established in 1993 in Rovereto by the Fondazione Opera Campana dei Caduti / Peace Bell Foundation. Two different bells, or changed mounting?

July 30, 1929 - Statue of Romulus & Remus, City Hall, Rome, Georgia (USA). "On a base of white marble from Tate, Georgia, with a brass plaque inscribed: 'This statue of the Capitoline Wolf, as a forecast of prosperity and glory, has been sent from Ancient Rome to New Rome during the consulship of Benito Mussolini in the year 1929." In 1940, anti-Italian sentiment due to World War II became so strong that the Rome city commission moved the statue into storage to prevent vandalism and replaced it with an American flag. In 1952, the statue was restored to its former location in front of City Hall." Info courtesy of George & Renate Stone.

September 10, 1838 - Arco della Pace / Arch of Peace, Parco Sempione, Milan (Italy). Inaugurated by the Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria.

1951 - "Arts of Peace" Equestrian Statues, Arlington Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC (USA). By American sculptor James Earle Fraser [1876-1953]. "Music & Harvest" (left) is a winged Pegasus between a male figure with a bundle of wheat & a sickle & a woman with a harp. "Aspiration & Literature" (right) is another Pegasus flanked by figures holding a book & a bow. The guilded bronze statues are approximately 17 feet tall atop granite pedestals. They were commissioned in l925 & their designs approved in 1933, but the statues were not erected until after WW-II when they were cast & gilded by Italy as a gift to the USA.

1954 - Women of Kassope, Zalongo (Greece). "A grandiose monument representing the 'Dance of Zalogos.' By sculptor Zogolopoulos. Erected on the rocks where the Souliot women and their children committed suicide [in 1803], not letting the men of the Turk Ali Pasha catch them."

1959 - Museo Internazionale Della Croce Rossa / International Museum of the Red Cross, Via Garibaldi n.50, Castiglione delle Stiviere (Italy). Operated by the Italian Red Cross.

T R A I L

Date? - Friedensweg / Peace Trail, Kaltern, South Tryol (Italy). Leads from Kaltern to the Church of St. Vigil or Vigilius in Altenburg and the ruins of St. Peter. There are seven art objects designed by different artists from the Alps along the way, including the four cardinal virtues (moderation, wisdom, justice and courage) and the Triassic biblical (faith, hope and love)... The sixth station "courage" is a beautiful table at the entrance to the Rastenbachklamm, on narrow wooden bridges is the gorge and along a steep iron level down. The last station of "love" is formed by the ruins of St. Peter... The term "Friedensweg" in northern Italy has yet another meaning. It is a long mountain trail in the South Tyrolean and Italian Dolomites. It runs along the so-called Alpine southern front of the First World War length of 500km.

Date? - Hedge spelling "PAX," lawn of Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi, Assisi (Italy). Mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor, commonly known as the Franciscan Order, in Assisi (Italy). Birthplace & burial place of St. Francis of Assisi [1181-1226]. One of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy.

1979 - "Dove of Peace," General Assembly Lobby, United Nations, New York, New York (USA). Reproduction of a mosaic in the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican City. Presented by Pope John Paul II. Entry #749 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

A R E N A

1985 - Stadio Erinis Kai Filias / Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF), Faliro, Piraeus, Athens (Greece). A multi-use indoor sports arena renovated for the 2004 Olympic Games.

1987 - Monument for the Nagasaki Flame of Commitment, near the Hypocenter, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki (Japan). "Burns to symbolize the pledge that Nagasaki shall remain the last city on Earth to experience nuclear devastation, that nuclear war shall never again be waged, and that there shall be no more bomb victims." "The small flame was sent from Olympian city [sic] in Greece to Nagasaki in 1983. It is said that in ancient Greece all warring parties stopped fighting while the flame was burning during the Olympic Games. Thus, the Olympian Flame is also a symbol of peace. In the evening on every August 8 Peace Lanterns are lit from this flame."

July 31, 1987 - ":Hymn to Life," Peace Symbols Zone, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki (Japan). From the City of Pistoia, Italy. "Depicts a mother holding her baby high in the air with both hands, an expresstion of love and peace."

Date? - Headquarters, Food & Agriculturture Organization (FAO), United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome (Italy).

Date? - Monumento alla Pace / Monument to Peace, Fossalta di Piave, Province of Venice (Italy).

Date? - Viaggatore de Pace / Peace Traveler, San Gimignano (Italy). Translation of Inscription on circular plaque: "PEACE TRAVELER is something you are that you construct that you give to others starting here and now." Photo by Julie Obermeyer.

Date? - Ponte di Pace / Peace Bridge, Casalechio di Reno (Italy). "There are other new public venues: the Casa per la Pace (House for Peace) which promotes projects on solidarity and tolerance [and] the Ponte di Pace (Peace Bridge), the Bridge over the River Reno..."

Date? - Monumento alla Pace / Monument to Peace, promosso dai Lions Clubs di Verona. Immagine virtuale ambientata sul piazzale antistante Porta Nuova a Verona.

Date? - Monumento alla Pace / Monument to Peace, Bitritto, Province of Bari, Puglia,(Italy).

Date? - Monumento alla Pace e alla Libertà / Peace and Freedom Monument, Piazza Risorgimento, Assago, Province of Milan (Italy). "In the past few weeks 'vandals' have badly damaged the monument created by Korean sculptor Yung Hojin which won the international 'Sculpture for Peace & Freedom' competition organized by the Administration in Raymond collaboration [sic] with the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera and chosen by a vote by the Citizens assaghesi [sic]. Instead of providing for the restoration work and to determine why its much-vaunted security and surveillance systems have not prevented this massacre, the 'Sindaco Acqua Azzurra' has decided to remore the monument [and] to erect a new [one] dedicated to Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour [1810-1861]."

1989 - Statue of National Reconciliation, Klafthmonos Square, Athens (Greece). Celebrates the 40 years from the end of the 1945-49 civil war. Klafthmonos Square means "square of grief," named for civil servants of 19th century who were fired from their state jobs every time the government was changes and gathered there to cry for their fate.

1991 - International World Peace Rose Garden, Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Asssi (Italy). Theme: "Universal Peace with All Creation."

May 24, 1998 - Peace Stupa, Comiso, Sicily (Italy). Dedicated by the Reverend Morishita. Near the NATO base.

B E L L

2000 - Glocke für den Frieden "Concordia" / Concordia Peace Bell, Summit of Kronplatz [2,272 m], Bruneck/Branico (Italy). In German speaking part of Italy. Designed by artist Paul de Doss-Moroder from Gröden and cast by bell foundry Glockengiesserei Oberascher in Salzburg (Austria), the bell weights over 18 tonnes and is set on an 11 m wide panorama platform. Inscribed "Donet deus populis pacem" / "God gives peace to the people." Has view of the wonderful mountain landscape between the Zillertaler Alps and the Dolomites. Rung on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday at 12:00 am. Originally identified by Dr. Jutta Lehmann of Blaichach (Germany).